middle-grade

12/02/2011

Middle-grade fantasy: my bread and butter. Possibly my number one favorite category of all time. I cannot get enough of it. I never get tired of it. And boy, this was a great year for it. As usual, I'll mix in some (possibly) lesser-known favorites and make sure to get a couple of paperbacks in. And for the most part, I think these make great read-alouds - but remember with fantasy you can get some scary stuff. None of these books has anything worse than Harry Potter, though, so if your reader is okay with Harry, they'll be okay with these.

1. THE EMERALD ATLAS by John Stephens: Hands down the best new fantasy of the year. Possibly the best new fantasy since Harry Potter. If your kid hasn't heard of this series yet, it's only because this is book one and it's only been out eight months. Kate, Michael and Emma have been passed from one orphanage to another, and everyone believes their parents are dead. At their latest orphanage, they accidentally discover a magical atlas - when you place a photograph inside its pages, the atlas takes you back in time to the moment the picture was taken. They are whisked into a past when the local town was run by a witch who is looking for that very same atlas. Will they be able to keep it hidden, get back to their own time, save the world - and possibly learn the truth about who they are and what happened to their family? I haven't mentioned this book in awhile because I think people actually got tired of hearing me talk about it. LOVE.

2. THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby: Hugo Cabret meets The Thief Lord. Three children - a violin-playing orphan busker; an apprentice clockmaker; and a hotel maid with a very ill father - find their paths crossing time and again as each searches for one thing that will change their life forever. This was has a complex, twisting plot, and too long of a description gives too much away. Kirby's latest, ICEFALL, is also awesome - though totally different - it's a Norse folklore-inspired fantasy-tinged coming of age story, and I loved it too.

3. THE BOOK OF THREE by Lloyd Alexander: I have loved this series for over three decades, and I never get tired of re-reading it. I wish they would re-jacket them, but oh, the insides. Taran is an orphan and Assistant Pig-Keeper for Dallben the wizard's oracular pig, Hen Wen. Taran longs for adventure and when Hen Wen escapes her enclosure and he runs after her, he runs right into some. First he meets Prince Gwydion and then the enchantress Achren, who captures them both and takes them to the castle of the Horned King. Taran manages to escape with the help of a princess and a bard, both of whom will become prominent characters in the four following books, and when Gwydion is believed dead, it will fall to Taran to defend Prydain from the Horned King. This series is based on Welsh mythology. For me, this is one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. Alexander built a complex world that builds with each subsequent book, and the characters show true growth throughout the course of the story. I actually think I need to re-read it; just talking about it makes me want to.

4. BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu: Quietly, stunningly beautiful--this book just swept me off my feet. It's based on my favorite Andersen fairy tale, The Snow Queen. Hazel and Jack, 11 year old best friends, are being pulled apart by many things - problems at home; parental suggestion; peer pressure. It's a troubled time, right on the edge of puberty, and Hazel's confused and hurt - but when Jack's stolen away to the woods by a mysterious witch, there's no question that Hazel will go after him. The journey she embarks on is fraught with danger and loneliness and lessons to learn and bits of other Andersen fairy tales, and is woven together expertly. Give this one as part of a pair with A TALE DARK AND GRIMM, which I discuss below.

5. FLOORS by Patrick Carman: Leo lives at the Whippet Hotel, where his dad is the maintenance man, and things are a bit crazy - there are hidden rooms, secret staircases, and ducks living on the roof. One day Leo receives a box from Mr. Whippet, the missing owner of the hotel. The box starts him off on a wild chase through the hotel, finding clue after clue (and more crazy rooms than he ever knew existed), in order to ultimately save the hotel from nefarious people who want to buy it. This one's perfect for absolutely any kid - I NEVER had a failed handsell on it - but especially for fans of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY or Jody Feldman's THE GOLLYWHOPPER GAMES. Sequels are coming!

6. PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES by Jonathan Auxier: Sometimes when I really love a book I get bogged down in the handsell, and my description makes the book sound...not good. This is one of those books, so I'm going to cut and paste the jacket description, which sums up the plot WAY better than I do. I was on the ABA New Voices Committee that honored this book earlier this year, and it SO deserved it. Jonathan really is a voice to watch. And the plot: This is the utterly beguiling tale of a ten-year-old blind orphan who has been schooled in a life of thievery.One fateful afternoon, he steals a box from a mysterious traveling haberdasher--a box that contains three pairs of magical eyes. When he tries the first pair, he is instantly transported to a hidden island where he is presented with a special quest: to travel to the dangerous Vanished Kingdom and rescue a people in need. Along with his loyal sidekick--a knight who has been turned into an unfortunate combination of horse and cat--and the magic eyes, he embarks on an unforgettable, swashbuckling adventure to discover his true destiny.

7. THE SIXTY-EIGHT ROOMS by Marianne Malone: I reviewed this one in ARC form, back in 2009. It's out in paperback now, and I love it just as much - especially as I finally got to see the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago last month!

8. SAVVY by Ingrid Law: I sold this book for years, but never actually read it until about four months ago. (Actually, I listened to it on audiobook; it was a superb audiobook.) Mibs Beaumont is about to turn thirteen, and when a Beaumont turns thirteen, they get their Savvy. One of her brothers channels electricity and the other causes hurricanes, so she's expecting something really powerful - which she'll need if she's going to save her father, who's been in a horrible accident many miles away. Mibs - along with her brother and the preacher's children - stows away on a bus in order to get to her father in time, and what happens to them along the way will change everyone involved forever.

9. A TALE DARK AND GRIMM by Adam Gidwitz: this book is a masterclass on story structure - a brilliant fairy tale retelling that begins as Hansel and Gretel and grows into so much more. The narrator talks to you throughout (I love when they break the fourth wall) and it does get quite creepy and gory in places, just like real fairy tales do. I cannot even tell you how much I am dying for Adam's next book to come out. Give this one as part of a pair, with BREADCRUMBS.

10. MIDDLEWORLD by J & P Voelkel: Great for fans of Percy Jackson! Max's parents are Mayan archaeologists, and when they disappear while on a dig, Max finds himself in Central America on a dangerous quest to find them. Along the way he will encounter Mayan Gods and more danger than he ever found in the video games that used to keep him company. Max is a total whiner at first, lazy and soft, but a Mayan girl soon kicks his butt into gear. LOVE this series.

11. EVERLOST by Neal Shusterman: I just met Neal at NCTE and told him, and I quote, "I sold the crap out of your books." Except I didn't say crap. He cracked up, but it was totally true. Neal is one of my favorites, ever. Most of his books are YA - and technically this is too - but I don't think it's scarier than Harry Potter, which is what I measure things against for parents. I'm going to cop out on this one, because the starred review from School Library Journal says it better than I ever could: "Nick and Allie are killed in an automobile accident and meet as they are heading down a tunnel toward the light. They land in Everlost, the space between the living and the end of the tunnel, and meet Lief, from whom they learn that Afterlights cannot walk where the living walk and that they cannot be seen or heard by the living. Allie is determined to go home, so she and Nick set out from the accident site in upstate New York and the safety of Lief's forest for New Jersey. Even though they have been warned about the McGill, a dreaded, evil monster, they slowly make their way, eventually arriving in New York City. There they meet Mary Hightower, who cares for Afterlights in the destroyed World Trade Towers, keeping them safe from the McGill and the Haunter. (In addition to children, buildings and objects can also cross into Everlost if they were much loved.) In their ensuing adventures, they are captured by the McGill and suffer a horrible fate before Nick discovers his true purpose in Everlost. Shusterman has created a world in which nothing is as it seems. As the teens struggle to make sense of this alternate afterlife, they also grow and develop as people. They learn to question those who have put themselves in power, and they begin to see what is truly important. Shusterman has reimagined what happens after death and questions power and the meaning of charity. While all this is going on, he has also managed to write a rip-roaring adventure complete with monsters, blimps, and high-diving horses." Book 1 of 3.

12. ALIENS ON VACATION by Clete Barrett Smith: Scrub is annoyed to be packed off to spend the summer with his grandmother - until he learns that her bed & breakfast is actually a vacation spot for aliens. While his grandmother disguises them and helps them blend in for an exotic Earth vacation, Scrub gets into one hairy situation after another. I don't often LOL while reading, but I did it many, many times while reading this. And everyone on the New Voices committee liked it just as much as I did! This was another handsell that pretty much never failed.

If I don't stop here I never will, but let me tell you - this list could be three times as long.

02/24/2011

Note from Melissa: Kymm recently moved from NYC back to her hometown of LA, and when she did, she regained her ability to use the library. (We can neither confirm or deny that she may have some outstanding fines in NYC.) She is now busily checking out the first book in every series she's ever been interested in and revisiting old favorites. She'll be sharing her journey with us!) So...here's Kymm!

As I was trolling through the library I found out some really exciting news! There are, since I last checked, two new Young Wizards books by Diane Duane! And you know what that means, don't you? It means that I get to re-read all of the previous books! SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD was published in 1983 and I have probably been reading it since it was new, and every time new books are written I read it again, so I almost know it by heart by now. I always love how many kids books are about loner kids who love books, it's charming to me how many loner kids who love books grow up to write books.

This book is about Nita, a loner kid who loves books, who, while being chased by the bullying rich girls from her school who beat her up on a regular basis, hides in the library and finds the title book, which turns out to be every loner kid who loves books' dream come true, really exactly what it says that it is! She finds Kit, another kid in her neighbourhood who also is learning to be a wizard and they team up to ostensibly find Nita's stolen favourite space pen, but in reality, to save the world. What is wonderful about this series of books is that wizardry doesn't actually solve everyone's problems easily, it makes things harder sometimes, and not everyone always lives through whatever ordeal the book centers around. Nita and Kit, and, in later books, Nita's little sister Dairine, have very honest, distinctive kid voices, written by someone who didn't forget what it was like to be as helpless as a child sometimes is; you may be a wizard and saving the world, but you still have to be ontime for dinner or you get in trouble with your parents.

The Young Wizard books are not only about magic and wizardry and the wonder of talking to animals and plants and cars, but about what it is like to grow up and take responsibility to help, in whatever small or large way we can, to save the world. By the way, the edition that I read this time was the twentieth anniversary edition, which includes a really great afterword by Diane Duane, and a hard-to-find short story from 1986 about a miniature adventure of Nita and Kit. The story isn't a classic, but it's fun to read if you are a completist like me. On to DEEP WIZARDRY! And beyond!

02/10/2011

I am so in love with this book. I ordered it on the strength of E.D. Baker's other books, but because I hadn't read it by the time it came out, it sat (as hardcovers I haven't read tend to do). And sat. And sat. For months. Finally in late November I plucked it off the shelf on my way out the door one night and took it home to read. Which I did in two hours. Then I promptly kicked myself - hard, while wearing steel-toed boots - for waiting so long. Oh, the lost income. Oh, the girls who could have read it already. Oh, the time I spent reading things that weren't as good.

Our heroine: Annie, younger sister of Gwendolyn; Gwendolyn's the princess cursed at birth to prick her finger on a spindle and you know the rest. So when Annie's born, her parents are so paranoid that they ask a fairy to protect her. The fairy casts this charm: From this day on, no magic shall touch you or bring you to harm. You'll have to survive on your natural charm. Annie is now impervious to all magic, which is not exactly considered a blessing in a country where everything relies on spells and charms. Everyone uses magic to make themselves "beautiful and graceful and sweet," and most members of Annie's family had been given magical gifts at their births. However, being in Annie's presence makes those gifts fade, so Annie has spent much of her life being held at arm's length by her entire family.

Annie's gift comes in handy when a miniature spinning wheel is smuggled into the palace and Gwendolyn pricks her finger, causing herself and everyone else within the walls to fall asleep - everyone, that is, except for Annie. Because she is the only one untouched by the magic, it's up to her to save her family and her kingdom. With the help of Liam (a Royal Guard who'd gone on a mission to the town and thus missed the spell) and a series of haphazard princes, Annie will outsmart some well-known fairy tale characters, wake up her family and possibly even fall in love.

THE WIDE-AWAKE PRINCESS is FUNNY. What a great read-aloud this would make. I sold a bunch of copies as Christmas gifts and I am going to sell the absolute crap out of it in paperback; there won't be a girl who shops at our store who won't have this book. Annie is a fantastic character - I always need a great book with a self-rescuing princess. Baker weaves a bunch of bits of well-known fairy tales into the story and it's so much fun picking them out. This book is a total romp and I love it to pieces and I can't wait to read it to my daughter someday. Sometimes when I like a book I just keep the galley, but this one? I'm buying it in hardcover.

(Oh! And the cover! Thecoverthecoverthecover! I LOVE the cover. The galley had a photo cover and I am SO. OVER. photo covers and when the book came I was so happy to see they'd changed it! Yay!)

10/25/2010

Review by Sarah Oh, first time novelists, I love you. Every season, I’m inundated with massive amounts of sequels and follow-ups and companion novels to books I read last year, and while I know I’m going to utterly love and adore many of these forays back into worlds I’m familiar with, there’s nothing quite like a voice you haven’t heard before. Rob Buyea’s first novel, Because of Mr. Terupt, is a classic school story, something in the tradition of James Howe and Gordon Korman and Andrew Clements, and yet it has this unshakable kind of optimism about it that seems to channel the joy Mr. Buyea must have felt when he found out his novel was going to be published. It’s a sort of cheerfulness that lingers, and it’s so sincere that the reader can’t help but feel it too. Because of Mr. Terupt, is, not surprisingly, about Mr. Terupt, who is a brand new teacher, fresh out of school himself. Seven of Mr. Terupt’s students are our narrators, and each chapter displays the point of view character’s name. It takes a few cycles of switching between the kids’ povs to really get their voices down, but this method of storytelling is really vital to the novel’s plot. The kids, Jessica, Alexia, Peter, Luke, Danielle, Anna, and Jeffrey, each come with their own set of fears and desires coming into fifth grade. Some of them love Mr. Terupt from day one, and others take longer to warm to his exuberant, slightly offbeat methods. As the year progresses, each of our seven narrators faces serious issues of their own; one is bullied about her weight, one is collapsing under the weight of grief, one is the new girl who can’t fit in, one is the girl who makes it her mission to control her peers through cruelty. Mr. Terupt seeks to bring out the best in his students, and they work toward a ‘free day,’ during which the kids will do whatever they choose. When the goal is met and the free day arrives, the class decides to go outside and play in the snow, and during their outdoor adventure, disaster strikes, and Mr. Terupt ends up in the hospital, clinging to life. I’m not going to talk about the ending of the book for obvious spoiler reasons. What I will say is that there is a reason books like this get written, why films like Dead Poets Society and Stand and Deliver get made, and why Will Schuester will show up every week on Glee for at least the next two years: nearly everyone has a teacher in his or her past that changed them forever. We spend so many of our formative years in school, and we spend that time with dozens of educators. For many of us, the lucky ones, there is a teacher that really rocked our world, who elevated the act of learning to something more. This book is a love song to those teachers, and even more, it’s a love song to the kids who are in school right now, whether or not they’ve met their own personal Mr. Terupts yet.

09/01/2010

When Maya's best friend Stephanie died from cancer, her world fell apart. When her father's job became uncertain, he and her mother took the opportunity to give the family a fresh start and moved from Iowa to Oregon. There are a lot of different things about their new town, including the people who live in the apartment building next door (who dress strangely and stick close to home) and, oh yeah, there's the fairy that flies into Maya's room one night. When Maya wakes up the next morning, she thinks it was a dream - until she finds gold sparkly dust on the sheets. And the strange just keeps on coming: she meets her next door neighbors, and they use words she's never heard of; a strange boy keeps asking her where the portal is; her neighbors are able to smell the fairy dust on her. Finally, at the end of her first day in her new school, Portal Boy shows up again and gets her to agree to take care of something he's stolen. Now she has a magical egg in her wrist, which is going to hatch into...something. Her next door neighbors are the only people with the power necessary to help her: they are the guardians of portals to other worlds, including the one where her egg came from. They've opened a door to another world for Maya, and it is one that will change her forever. This is my first Nina Kiriki Hoffman novel (and her first for kids), but it won't be my last. I LOVED this. I think the best thing about this (besides the fantastic writing) is that it's not really fantasy, and it's not really science fiction. It is an incredibly cool mix of the two, very unlike anything else I've read and yet comfortably set in our modern world with a main character anyone can relate to. Maya's grief over Stephanie gently powers a lot of her actions, which gives the whole book an undercurrent that really showcases Hoffman's writing. It's an incredibly realistic portrayal of adolescent emotion, which is unusual in a book in this genre. I also loved watching Maya deal with her troubles partially through art, taking everything down in her omnipresent sketchpad. So not only do we have fantasy, scifi, wonderful writing, and compelling characters, but we also have messages of the importance of art in our lives and of the power of grief. It's a lot to fit into one middle-grade book, but Hoffman makes it look effortless. Sequel, please.

08/23/2010

In a season where dystopia is the new utopia and boyfriends (or girlfriends) either have demonic (or angelic) tendencies, THE GRIMM LEGACY is a welcome oasis of clever plotting and wonderful reimagining of old tales. Elizabeth, our heroine, spends her days trying to please her stepmother and two stepsisters, and even must leave her beloved dance classes in order to help pay for her sisters’ college fees. When on the way to school in downtown New York, she encounters a homeless woman wearing only sandals in the brutal cold. Elizabeth gives the woman her gym sneakers, and this kind deed has unexpected repercussions: she is invited by her enigmatic history teacher to interview for a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository. Curious and in need of extra cash, Elizabeth goes to the interview, and is subsequently hired at the Repository, which she comes to learn is a library of sorts for magical objects. Some, as the title alludes, are from the Grimm fairy tales, but others have more sci-fi applications, including collections from Wells and Lovecraft. There are objects going missing from the Repository, however, and Elizabeth must choose which of her new co-workers are worthy of trust as they search out the thief. There is something wonderful about reading a book that takes you away to a place you’d really like to go, and The Grimm Collection does just that. I can’t tell you how much I want to go to the Repository now (you know, provided it actually existed). Everything about it is so whimsical (and a little dangerous), and Polly Shulman did such a wonderful job choosing the objects to feature. Elizabeth is a brilliant heroine, and I rooted for her from page one, but I also really liked the supporting cast: Marc, the hot African-American basketball star who’s keeping secrets; Aaron, the geeky-cool nerd who pretends to be cynical; and Anjali, the girl-who’s-so-pretty-you-want-to-hate-her-but-she’s-really-nice-so-you-can’t-and-also-may-have-a-secret-too. The amazing thing about this novel is that it’s a perfect fit for so many ages. It would make a charming read for a savvy eleven or twelve year old, but older teens will enjoy the romantic possibilities between the characters as well as the magical rules of the world; you can borrow a magical artifact if you get clearance from the Repository, but you have to leave something of yours behind, which could be your sense of humor, your singing voice, or even your firstborn child. This is a must-buy for any middle school librarian looking for something original and—dare I say it—perhaps even a little sweet. Note from Melissa: this is one of my favorite books of the season, and I am so glad Sarah reviewed it. It is absolutely delightful. Shulman's a favorite of mine, and it will not disappoint you. I too am dying for the Repository to actually exist, and you will be too. Thank goodness we can visit whenever we want by reopening this book.

04/03/2010

There's this thing we booksellers do all the time: we sell books we've never read. We're pretty sure they're really good, and we're pretty sure we'd enjoy them if we ever got to them, but for one or twelve reasons or another we haven't. However, they seem to fit a niche, so sell them we do. FABLEHAVEN was in that category for me until yesterday. And now it is not! Brandon Mull is one of the authors Pudd'nHead has coming this spring, and I would like to review something by each of them on this blog between now and their appearance. Brandon's not the first author we're having, but I've actually chosen this book to kick off my new fantasy/otherworldly book club at the store, so I read it first and am thusly reviewing it first! Now that I've read it, of course, I honestly can't believe I missed out on it for four years. (And I want to read the sequels, which is a problem, because I barely have time for the first book in a series.) I'm really looking forward to discussing this with the kids (and having Brandon at the shop). Kendra and Seth are being packed off to grandparents they barely know while their parents go on a cruise. They've never been to their grandparents' house; no one in the family really has. They're told their grandmother is away; their grandfather is a little odd and has a lot of rules they have to follow. When Seth breaks the rules (something he's going to do a lot), they begin to learn the truth about their grandparents: they are caretakers of Fablehaven, a secret sanctuary for mythical creatures. Their grandfather brings them into the fold, but Seth's continued overactive curiosity soon puts not just Fablehaven in danger, but also their family...and, possibly, the world. I love the characters here. Kendra and Seth have an awesome, believable relationship, with exactly the right amount of bickering and affection. Lena, their grandfather's housekeeper, may be my favorite character - except she has to vie with their grandfather. The setting unfolds slowly, with a great balance of secrecy and surprises. There are awesome moments of humor (wait until the fairy broker shows up). There ARE a lot of secrets here, so I don't want to say much if you too have missed out on this great series. But this would be a great read-aloud for families - good adventure, good characters, a little mystery, a little creepiness, some humor, and some wonderful plotting. It's good for kids reading up and for anyone who loves the SEPTIMUS HEAP books, GREGOR THE OVERLANDER, CHILDREN OF THE LAMP etc. Now that I've read it, I'm even more eager to sell it. (Incidentally, how I would handsell it was basically like this: "FABLEHAVEN is about what happens when siblings learn that their grandparents run a secret sanctuary for mythical creatures." A lot of handsells are exactly that short; that one worked a lot. )

12/19/2009

Four series I love came to an end this year. Two I'm okay with; one I'm uncertain about, ONE I AM IN COMPLETE DENIAL ABOUT YES JESSICA DAY GEORGE I AM LOOKING AT YOU. Although I am very sad (and in denial, DON'T LOOK AWAY WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU, JESSICA), fortunately for me (and the other lovers of these series), the closing books were uniformly fantastic. (But don't think that lets you off the hook, Ms. George.)

1. CITY OF GLASS by Cassandra Clare, which I reviewed here. You may remember that in that particular review, I ate some crow over having originally rolled my eyes at hearing that a fanfic writer got a book deal. After spending almost the whole year reading other books, I still think that Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy has one of the best YA series endings I've ever read. I definitely wanted more Clary and Jace and Simon, but all of my major questions were answered and all the ends were tied up well enough. We consistently sell this series over and over again, and I'm always happy to put it in someone's hands.

2. THE LAST OLYMPIAN by Rick Riordan, which I never did get around to reviewing because it came out at a really busy time and I barely had time to read it, let alone write about it. There are probably one or two reviews of this tiny little series roaming around the internet. You may have heard of it - Percy Jackson and the Olympians? (About to be made into a movie that I am skeptical about because the actors are so much older than their kid characters?) Anyway. I knew going in that this was the last book, so I was prepared. I was prepared for it to end, and from reading the other four (and meeting Rick once), I felt that he would not let us down with the ending. I was right. I would like more of Percy's story, but I feel that Rick did him justice, and did the readers justice. That story is over, and I am satisfied. I also knew very, very early that there would only be five, so I had a long time to get used to that fact. Also Rick has a new book coming next year, and while I have no idea what it's about, who's writing it is really what matters in this case.

3. FRONT AND CENTER by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Catherine lives close by to Children's Book World, where I worked (and Sarah still works), so I was lucky enough to get to know her a little. We got in on the ground floor, so to speak, with the D.J. Schwenk books - and we were so lucky to discover them so early. Sarah reviewed FRONT AND CENTER back in July, and when I finally read it in October, I learned that it was every bit as good as Sarah said it was. It is an incredibly satisfying close to D.J.'s story. And if you've yet to discover D.J. and her family and her world, the good news is that all three books are out so there is no waiting for you.

4. DRAGON SPEAR by Jessica Day George. Pull up a chair, Jessica. (Can I call you Jessica?) Okay, look. Here's the deal. I know that you can finish DRAGON SPEAR and see that Creel's story has a resolution, and that the dragons got a resolution and we have a happy ending and blah blah blah. And a trilogy is a nice round set of three, so you dotted your i's and crossed your t's and wrapped it up without staying at the party too long like so many others tend to. COME BACK TO THE PARTY, JESSICA. (I'm going to talk to the readers now. Try the appetizers!) Back when I read the ARC of DRAGON SPEAR I insisted that you all go and read this series if you hadn't yet. I am expecting, of course, that you listened to me, and that you're all ready with your teeny tiny picket signs to wave at my little internet protest, right? "What do we want?" "MORE CREEL!" "When do we want it?" "NOW!" I know that we have an uphill struggle here. Jessica's got other stuff to contend with, like her publisher, and the fact that she's been writing other awesome books, blah blah blah. But I believe that if we all hope with all our hearts we can influence this outcome. YES WE CAN. (Okay, back to Jessica now.) How are the pigs in blankets? Look, Jessica - I'm going to read anything you write. (I just finished PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL and now, almost 12 months after publication, it has to go on my best of the year list.) If you write a fantasy where a bowl of oatmeal comes to life, I'm going to read it. And I'm going to read it whether there's ever any more about Creel or not. I'm just saying, if you're hanging around sometime in the future and you're bored and don't have anything else to write, I'd like some more, please. It was a really good party. I'd like to stay. But if you move on to another party, I'll come too. (Not in a stalkery way.) And thanks for Creel, because I really do love her, and I can't wait to share her with my daughter in seven or eight years.

And that's it - the endings to four series I loved, all hitting in the same year. I'm leaving these characters behind with a great deal of sorrow, but I can't wait to see what these authors do next.

11/30/2009

There are some questions that children's booksellers get asked over and over and over again, and one of them is "Do you have anything else like THE DOLL PEOPLE?". Beginning in February, my answer will be to hand them THE SIXTY-EIGHT ROOMS.

In the Art Institute of Chicago, there is a collection of sixty-eight miniature rooms called the Thorne Rooms. Each one is designed in the style of a different time and place, and they are absolutely perfect down to the most minute detail. I have seen these rooms, and they are amazing. Mesmerizing. While on a field trip to the Institute, Jack and Ruthie find a key that allows a person to shrink down small enough to enter the rooms and explore. Once they do, amazing things begin to happen to them. They learn that they are not the first visitors to the room, and they learn that some valuable things may have been left behind in the past. The discovery of the key sets them off on a fantastic series of adventures, with mysteries to solve and chances to take and things to figure out about themselves.

This review will be necessarily short, because I feel like almost anything I say would be a spoiler. I can tell you this: I LOVE THIS BOOK. I love this book hugely. I cannot wait to sell this book. I am going to get my fifth grade girls' book club to read it; I am going to book talk it at any spring book fairs we might have. I am going to sell this book and sell it and sell it. I am going to buy it in hardcover and put it away for Molly. I am going to send it to my cousin's daughter and the daughters of friends. Not that you can't give this to a boy - I think there are some boy readers who will like it - but the premise of this book is one that girls often imagine themselves into. I used to wish all the time that I was small enough to fit into my dollhouse. Just sometimes. While reading this book, the memory of that particular make-believe from my past came flooding back.

This book will make a great read-aloud. It's good for classrooms and libraries and birthday party gifts for kids you don't know (and kids you know). It's a good grandparent gift; it's an easy handsell. It's smart with a strong female character and an excellent portrayal of friendship. It's only December 2009 and this is already one of my favorite books of 2010. Did I mention I LOVE THIS BOOK? And it's a debut! Well done, Ms. Malone. I can't wait to see what you do next.

Reviewer: Sarah
Middle school, for many of us, was a time of great confusion. There were training bras, and zits, and oops I forgot my deodorant, and oops the boy who used to be my friend is now my crush, and what do you mean I need glasses and braces and STIRRUP PANTS (why, early nineties, why?). I had a lot of bad hair and bad clothes, but what I did have was lots of good books. That said, if I had been able to read THE POPULARITY PAPERS, I think my middle school years might have been just a little easier.
Meet Lydia Goldblatt (sometimes called "Goldbladder" by the mean kids), a blond curly-girl with glasses and lots of gumption. Her best friend, Julie Graham-Chang, is the quiet one, the artist/cartoonist, the short one who's easy to overlook. Junior high is looming, and Lydia realizes that neither she nor Julie are anywhere in the vicinity of popular. They decide to spend sixth grade in the pursuit of popularity, but not in the traditional way. Like the National Geographic explorers of old, Lydia and Julie begin a notebook of discovery, wherein they can document their findings after extensive observation, and then, Francis Bacon-like, apply the scientific method to test and see what works. Case in point: our heroines discover many popular girls have a blond streak in their hair. Lydia attempts to lighten a swath of hair with bleach. Under the sink bleach. Burn your skin off bleach. (Luckily she can hide the bald spot until the hair grows back.) Lydia, as the outgoing one, has more interaction at first with the glitterati of her school, but Julie finds her own chances to mingle once she joins the field hockey team.
What really works in this painfully funny (graphic?) novel is the core friendship of Lydia and Julie. The sincerity with which Ignatow writes is just wonderful to read, and there is such loving care in the crafting of their personalities, even down to the differences in their handwriting. As this book is truly a journal of sorts, it reads like an intimate dialogue between two girls that you can't help but root for from page one. Sometimes they give each other their best, and sometimes they let each other down, but what remains is the truest element of friendship: change will happen, but true friends will grow alongside you, and give you room to grow in your own way. I love that Lydia and Julie both try things that are new to them, and both attempt things that are scary (and not always together), because junior high (and oh yeah, real life) is full of those moments. Our heroines both have family issues as well: Lydia lives with her high-strung single mother and emo sister, while Julie lives with her two dads, and both girls are trying desperately to transition out of "little kid" mode.
THE POPULARITY PAPERS will invariably draw comparisons to DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, and I hope that anyone who does will make the same connections I did. Both PP and WIMPY utilize a lot of comic-style art. Both PP and WIMPY take place in that shadowy land between kid-dom and adolescent-dom. Both PP and WIMPY feature two best friends. Both PP and WIMPY have a journal-like construct. This is all very true. You're missing the point, however, if you don't make this last connection, which I think is the only one really worth mentioning: both PP and WIMPY are utterly HILARIOUS. Lydia and Julie are comedy gold together, and I laughed out loud over and over again. I have written before about how publishers and writers need to bring the funny if they want to reach kids today, and THE POPULARITY PAPERS delivers hard-core. I am going to LOVE selling this book. (If I had a time machine, I'd send one back to myself in 6th grade. I mean it.)